This week’s reading “Netflix and Platform Imperialism: How Netflix Alters the Ecology of the Korean TV Drama Industry” is very impressive. This reminds me of last year when I was a TA for television symposium where Hwang Dong-hyuk was invited as a guest for Squid Game session. That session had the highest attendance of the entire semester, with many people on the waitlist and waiting outside. After the class, it was already 10pm, but there were still people waiting for his signature.
Besides, I am particularly interested to know if there is any connection between Netflix and the representation of sensitive topics in the Korean television industry. I really love the recent show called The Glory (2022), which is about abuse in high schools. The reading suggests some relationship between Netflix's investment and the creative freedom given to the producers, but I wonder: Is Netflix influencing the content choice, especially more and more sensitive topics like school violence in The Glory (2022) and juvenile delinquency in Juvenile Justice (2022)? What is the censorship like in this kind of transnational production?
Hi Yiyan, these are some really good questions...I am aware that international co-productions sometimes run into problems, like when American producers don't anticipate the implications of certain media that is intended to do well with Chinese audiences. I wonder if Netflix can ever have the opposite effect where it acts as a loophole for potentially controversial topics to find a large unproblematic reception on an international platform. While in general I find that Netflix produces sanitized content and neuters even the most thorny topics, it must also appeal to a salacious appetite for taboo and controversy which has always characterized television audiences, I would imagine worldwide. I haven't seen The Glory, but perhaps it straddles that line.
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